Car was throwing a code intermittently for front knock sensor. Pulled the inlet manifold to replace the sensor and noticed the oil seal under the sensor wasn't sitting properly and some oil was coming through. Pulled off the plate the sensors are sitting on to replace the seal and we could see the front lifter was damaged and was marking the cam.

We pulled the heads off and the cam out today. The timing gear on the cam was loose - all 3 bolts were loose and the pin was missing. Have a total of 3 damaged lifters. The lifters have been flat spotted and look like they've been hit with a hammer on the roller.

Car has done 16000 miles, 5000 miles with the Vortech supercharger on.

Now why has the timing gear on the cam come loose, its pin missing and 3 lifters failed ?

Oil pressure has been fine and car has had frequent oil changes. Motor doesn't use any oil. Cam looked fine apart from where it was marked by the 3 lifters.

I have new lifters, new cam, JWIS timing chain and cloyes timing gears ready to put in but I don't want to do this without addressing what has caused the problem in the first place. We'll also pull the sump off and look for the missing pin and check the oil pump.

To further confuse matters when we pulled the heads off, the drivers side bank had a wiring tag jammed between the head and the block - not far enough in to cause a problem but I presume the engine is installed in the car with the heads on so this would seem to indicate at least this head has been removed before I got the car ?

I'm the second owner, its a Canadian car with a Wolfe Chevrolet sticker on it. The first owner exported it to Australia and it had 7000 miles on it when I bought it. The vin number is 1G1YY22G5Y5107181. I'm wondering if anyone can help get the service history as this may shed some light on why the head was previously pulled and maybe why it has its current problems ?

Thanks,

Dave.


[Modified by ausvette, 12:12 PM 3/14/2004]

 

If the lifters had flat spots on the rollers then yu need to pay close attention to the lifter retainers, if the lifter is allowed to rotate in the bore then the roller will not roll as the cam rotates.
Sounds like poor assembly on the part of the manufacturer and yes the whole engine is assembled before it's put in the car, I took a tour of the plant and when they arrive in Bowling Green the engines are already preassembled so all they have to do is put the engine in the car.

 

Can'thelp your problem, but any chance you could post some pics of the right hand drive setup? :cheers:

 

The lifter retainers seem fine. After talking to some of the local engine builders it seems most likely the damage was caused by valve float. I'm going to try some comp cam springs unless anyone has any other ideas ....

As requested, heres the pictures -

 

Cool :thumbs: Does GM make the RT hand drive dash and all?

 

Hey Brian,

That would be a cool mod for Joe's party, right? :lol:

 

No help from GM. Any corvettes in Australia are privately imported and converted to right hand drive by small specialised companies. They do their own molds and engineering and have to comply with various government regulations.

Costs $22500 USD to convert a C5 to RHD in Australia and results are variable depending which company did the conversion. Would be nice for us if GM made a right hand drive version but looks like that just isn't going to happen.

Also no support or warranty on the cars. Anything goes wrong we have to figure it out for ourselves. Makes it quite painful at time to own a Corvette in Australia.

 

If you want to find out the service history (at least service performed by the dealer) contact your local chevy dealer and ask them if they can run a VIS (Vehicle Inquiry Search) it will show all work warranty and non warranty that has been perf. by a chevy dealer. not sure how it will work out of the US but give it a shot. Sound like your motor has been apart before. Best of Luck
-Rick

 

Thanks Rick, but we don't have any chevy dealers in Australia. The closest is Holden but they're not linked in to the U.S. systems. I emailed Wolfe Chevrolet in Canada as the car has one of their stickers on but haven't received a reply.

Can anyone assist with getting a VIS done - the vin is 1G1YY22G5Y5107181 ?

Thanks,

Dave.